Filing cabinet



May 1, 1956 Q STINGL 2,743,982

FILING CABINET Filed June 10, 1953 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 /6 7 W Zhwentor(Ittornegs y 1956 J. STINGL 2,743,982

FILING CABINET I Filed June 10, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 III,

(Ittornegs United States FILING CABINET Joseph Sting], Stratford, Conn.,assignor to The Ferris Manufacturing Company, Stratford, Conn, acorporation of Connecticut Application June 10, 195$,Serial No. 360,709

3 Claims. (Cl.312267) This invention relates to a filing cabinet,particularly a cabinet for filing record cards, and has for an objecttoprovide a cabinet for this purpose "which has an improved arrangement ofa rotary support for a series of trays carrying the cards, which traysare elongated trays adapted to carry a series of groups of cardsextending longitudinally of the tray, and which groups may beplaced endto end with the cards facing forwardly, or toward a side of the trayinstead of toward one end as is common in present cabinets of this type.

It is also an object to provide an improved casing or atent O A furtherobject is to so construct and mount the closure forming the upper partof the front wall that when retracted or opened it is swung forwardlyand downwardly to substantially a horizontal position to form awork-supporting shelf for one consulting the cards.

Another object is to provide an improved means for rotating the supportscarrying the trays whereby the operator may quickly and easily bring anytray desired to a readily accessible position in the opening and closelyadjacent said work-supporting shelf, and which mechanism will alsoautomatically retain the supports and the trays in this position for anydesired length of time.

It is a still further object to provide means whereby the trays carryingthe cards are always maintained in an drawings forming a part of thisspecification; It is, however, to be understood the invention is notlimited to the specific details of construction and arrangement shown,

but may embody various changes and modifications within the scope of theinvention. i

In these drawings:'

Fig. 1 is a perspective view looking toward the front and one end ofthe'cabinet and showing the closures in their open'position to permitaccess to the cards, and use of the closure forming the upper portion ofthe'front wall as a work-supporting shelf;

' Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinal horizontal section at the left handend of the cabinet;

Fig. 2a is a detail section on alarger scale of a mountstantially in theplane of the line 2a in Fig. 2;

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal central section of the central portionand right hand end of the cabinet;

Fig. 4 is a partial end elevation and partial section looking from theright of Figs. 1 and 3;

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section on an enlarged scale of the mountingand control means at one end of the trays, and I Fig. 6 is a viewlooking from the right of Fig. 5.

This improved filing cabinet comprises an enclosing casing or housing 10including longitudinally spaced upright end walls 11 and 12,connecting'front and rear walls 13 and 14 respectively, and topand'bottom walls 15 and 16 respectively. The housing may be made of anysuitable material but is preferably of sheet metal, and of course may becoated or finished with any suitable material in any color desired. Inthe form shown, the edges of the end walls are turned laterally, asindicated at 17, and then inwardly to form a flange 18, and the topedges of the top, front and rear side walls, and bottom wall, are turnedinwardly to form similar flanges 19 abutting the flanges 18, and whichmay be secured thereto by any suitable means such, for example, asbolting, riveting or spot welding, thus forming a strong,'rigid, unitarystructure for the housing of relatively light weight. The wholestructure may be supported on suitable rollers or casters 20 to permitready shifting of the cabinet to any desired location. r

The front portion of the top wall '15 comprises a retractable closure 21extending substantially the full length of the cabinet, and it ispreferably mounted by a piano type hinge 22 at its rear edge to permitthis closure to be lifted and swung rearwardly out of the way onto thetop of the rear portion of the top wall, as shown in Fig. 1, thusexposing the contents of the housing through this top wall. The frontside wall 13 of the housing comprises a substantially verticalintermediate section .or' portion 23, a lower section 24 inclineddownwardly and rearwardly from the intermediate section 23, and a topsection comprising a retractable closure 25 inclined upwardly andrearwardly from the top edge of the intermediate section 23. Thisclosure is preferably mounted by hinging it at its lower edge to the topedge of the intermediate section 23 so that it may be swung forwardlyand downwardly from the closed to an open position projecting forwardlyfrom the front wall of the housing and with means such, for example, aspivoted links or brackets 26 at its opposite ends for holding it in asubstantially horizontal position to form a work-supporting shelf for aperson using the cabinet and consulting the cards therein. The tworetractable closures provide a large opening substantially into whichthe trays carrying the cards are shifted by rotating their support, sothat they are easily and readily accessible to a person sitting at thefront of this shelf. The downwardly and rearwardly inclined lowerportion 24 gives clearance for the limbs of the user sitting in front ofthe cabinet for great comfort. When the closure 25 isswung upwardly andbackwardly and the closure 21 forwardly to the closed position, thecabinet is entirely closed and the closures may be secured in thisposition by any suitable catch or lock '27 on the front closure and acooperating keeper also forming a hand grip 21a on the top closure,giving full protection to the contents of the cabinet.

The improved means within the housing for carrying the trays comprises arotatable support, whereby any desired tray may be brought to a readilyaccessible position in or just back of the opening covered by theclosures 21 and 25 and where any card in the tray may be easily andquickly located and examined. This support in the construction showncomprises a pair of longitudinally spaced upright rotary supports 28 and29 located adjacent the opposite end walls of the housing. Thesesupports may be of different constructions, but they are preferablysheet metal discs mounted to rotate on a suitable longitudinalsupporting shaft 30, and the outer peripheral edges are preferablyrolled over to form strengthening ribs 31 and also to provide a finishededge to the discs which will prevent injury to a hand coming in contacttherewith, and provide a better appearance. These end supports or discsare connected by a central strengthening member 32 in the form of atubular element secured at its opposite ends to the discs by anysuitable means, such, for example, as angle bars 33 welded to the discsand this tubular element. As in the design shown the length of thecabine and therefore the distance between the supports 20 and 29 isconsiderable, the connecting member 32 may be strengthened at one ormore points between the supports, one of these supporting means beingshown at substantially the center of the cabinet and comprising a sheetmetal disc 34. The member 32 may be made in sections, the one showncomprising two sections extending in opposite directions from the disc34 to the supports 28 and 29, and the inner ends are secured to the disc34 in the same manner as the outer ends are connected to the supports 28and 29, that is, by angle members 35 welded to the discs and the tubularmembers. The peripheral edge of this disc may also be rolled over toform a strengthening and stiffening bead 36. The end supports 28 and 29are mounted to rotate on the shaft 30 by any suitable bearing means 37,and the disc 34 is also supported by and rotatable on the shaft by asimilar bearing 38. The opposite ends of the shaft 30 are supported onthe inner side of the end walls 11 and 12 of the housing. The preferredmeans of mounting this shaft is by means of a pair of upright anglemembers 39 mounted on the end walls preferably by spot welding oneflange to these walls with the other flanges abutting. There are twosets of these angle bars, one above and one below the shaft, as shown inFigs. 3 and 4, and then a pair of straps 40 are welded at their oppositeends to the inwardly extending flanges of these bars, and they haveoutwardly curved central portions 41 forming a socket to receive the endof the shaft. It may be secured therein by any suitable means such, forexample, as a cotter pin 42.

Pivotally mounted at their opposite ends in the two rotary supports 28and 29 are a series of longitudinally extending elongated open-top trays43 for supporting a series of record cards (not shown). These trays arepreferably sheet metal of substantially U-shape in cross section, thusforming upright laterally spaced side walls 44 and a connecting bottomwall 45, and the side walls may be stiffened and strengthened by foldingover the top edge portions thereof, either inwardly or outwardly, asshown at 46. The ends of each tray are formed by upright sheet metalplates 47 which may be bent inwardly at their lower and side edgesforming flanges 48 for connection with the bottom and side walls of thetray, and these end walls form supports by which the trays may bemounted on the rotatable end supports 28 and 29. The preferred mountingmeans for the opposite ends of the trays is shown in detail on a largerscale in Figs. and 6. It comprises a transverse bar 49 secured to theouter side of the end wall 47 of the tray, and the top edge of this wallmay be turned outwardly, as indicated at 50, to form a flange resting onthis bar. The bar may be secured to the end wall 47 by any suitablemeans, as for example by rivets or spot welding 51. A second and shorterbar 52 is secured by similar means 53 to the supporting disc 23 andcarries a bearing sleeve 54 for a supporting pivot pin 55 secured at itsinner end in the bar 49, and this bar may be provided with a boss 56 toincrease the supporting area between the pin and the bar. As thesupporting bar 52 is secured to the disc 28 on the outer side and thetray is on the inner side, the pivot pin 55 extends through-an opening57 in the disc.

4 If desired, the disc 28 may be stiffened and strengthened by anadditional sheet metal disc 58 spot welded to the disc 28 as indicatedat 59. Secured to the outer end of the pin is a crank arm 60 preferablydepending vertically from this pin, and it is secured to the pin 55 byany suitable means, such, for example, as a cross pin 61.

Means is provided for retaining this crank arm in an upright position inall positions of the connected tray as the support for the tray isrotated. This comprises a control ring mounted to rotate in a fixedposition offset downwardly from the pivotal mounting 55 of the tray andhaving a pivotal connection 63 to the crank arm 60 for each tray, spaceddownwardly from the axis of the pin 55, the ofiset for the ring 62 beingequal to the distance between the axis of the pivot pin 55 and thepivotal connection 63. In other words, the ring 62 rotates about acenter offset downwardly from the center of the shaft 30 a distanceequal to the distance between the axis of the pin 55 and the pivotalconnection. As the card carrying trays are of considerable length, it ispreferred to mount both ends in their rotatable supporting discs 28 and2) in the same manner. That is, each end is supported by a pivot pin 55and each carries a crank arm 6i) connected to a control ring 62. As themounting and control are the same at each end of a tray only one will bedescribed in detail. The pivotal connection for the crank arm 60 to thecontrol ring 62 preferably comprises a lug 64 secured to the ring62 byany suitable means such, for example, as welding, and projects outwardlyfrom the ring a sufiicient distance to accommodate the pivotalconnection 63 which may be a screw extending through the bearing sleeve65 in an opening in the lug 64 and the inner end of the screw threadedinto the arm 60. The ring 62 is preferably a flat strip of metal locatedin a vertical plane and supported at its inner edge to rotate or turn ona pair of supporting rollers 66. These rollers may be of any suitablematerial but are preferably rubber rollers, and they are located ondiametrically opposite sides of the shaft 30 and spaced therefrom, asshown in Figs. 2 and 4. They are mounted on the inner sides of the endwalls 11 and 12 of the housing, and a simple and effective means formounting these rollers is shown in Figs. 2 and 2a, comprising achannel-shaped sheet metal member 67 having laterally extending sideflanges 68 secured to the adjacent end wall by any suitable means, suchas spot welding, and this channel member encloses the block 70 intowhich is threaded a supporting stud or screw 71 on which the roller 66rotates with a suitable bearing sleeve 72. These channel members arepreferably of considerable length so as to extend laterally fromopposite sides of the shaft 30 to substantially the rear and front wallsof the housing, as shown in Fig. 2. As these members extendsubstantially horizontally and the supporting angle members 39 for theshaft 30 extend vertically, they together form a cross constructionproviding a very effective strengthening and stiffening means for thesheet metal end walls 11 and 12 of the housing.

It will be seen that with this means of mounting the trays with thepivotal supporting pins 55 located well above the bottom wall 45 of thetray, this pivotal mounting at each end of the tray is located wellabove the center of gravity of the tray so that it tends to remain in anupright position at all times throughout the turning movements of therotatable supports for these trays. However, to positively hold thetrays in this upright position and prevent their being swung or tippedlaterally, either during the rotatable movement of their support orinadvertently by the user consulting or examining the cards or insertingor removing them, so that the cards might fall from the tray, the offsetrings 62 and their crank arm connection to the trays, as abovedescribed, are provided to positively retain each tray in its uprightposition as the support is rotated to bring the individual trays to theaccessible position in the opening in the upper front part of thehousing. In other words, as each ring 62 is offset as shown in Fig. 4and is pivotally connected tothe free end of each of crank arms 60 forthe series of trays, the

. ring 62 rotates with the adjacent end supports 28 and29,

and due to the offset 'alwaysmaintains the crank arms 60 in the uprightvertical position, and therefore retains each card tray always in theupright position, and this is true of all positions of the traythroughout its'peripheral movement as its support rotates.

Power means is provided for rotating the rotatable support for the trayand also holding the support'in any disc by any suitable means such, forexample, as bolts74' passing through the sprocket and the'member. 28,with suitable spacing blocks or sleeves 75. The sprocket 73 may alsohave a suitable bearing 76 to support and permit it to rotate on theshaft 30.

An electric motor 77 is mounted within thehousing in any suitablelocation, as on the lower wall 16 adjacent the rear wall 14, and drivesa small sprocket 78 through a standard type of reducing drive 79, thissprocket having connection with the large sprocket 73 through a suitablechain 80. A suitable control '81 for the motor, including 7 push buttons82 operating suitable control switches (not shown) located in a plug-insupply connection to the motor (which connections are'not shown as theymay be any well known suitable connection) is provided. This control 81is located in an easily accessible position,'preferably as shown in Fig.1, just inside one end wall of the housing and easily accessible throughthe opening in the front of this housing. This means of rotating thesupport for the trays permits operation of the support in eitherdirection to bring any desired tray into accessible position at theopening in the front of the housing, and the reducing drive 69efiectively retains the support stationary in& any given position whenthe power to the motor is cut It will be seen that with thisconstruction and arrange ment the card supporting trays 43 may be madeof practically any length desired, to hold a large number of cards andmake them readily accessibleto anyone seated at the front side of thecabinet. It is intended that the cards be located in the trays inupright positions extending longitudinally of the trays, and the cardsmay be located in different groups with the cards of adjacent groupsarranged end to end and cards of a given length in corresponding groups.The cards may be arranged so that no dividing means between thedifferent groups are necessary, but, if desired, sheet metal or thindividing walls may be provided asinserts, extending transversely betweenthe sidewalls 44 of the trays, as indicated at 83 in the upper part ofFig. 3, or the individual substantially U-shaped pans'or containers ofsheet metal or the like could be used as inserts, as shown at 84 at thebottom part of Fig. 3, and of a width to carry groups of any desiredwidth of cards, these containers being merely seatable in the trays 43to keep each group of cards separate, and such containers could beprovided with suitable handles whereby, if desired, any container andits group of cards could be removed from the carrying tray 43 and placedwith the container on the shelf 25 or any other support while working onthe cards in this container.

The controlling means comprising the offset ring 62 and its connectionto the trays 43 at each end of the rotary support, as well as thesprocket and chain drive at the right hand end, may be covered andprotectedbya guard 85 where they are exposed in theopening at the upperportion of the front wall. This would also prevent articles beingdropped into these movable parts, and also would prevent injury to theoperator in preventing insertion of the hand inadvertently into thespace between the rotatable discs 28 and 29 and the end walls of thehousing.

It will be clear from the above that this novel construction andarrangement provides a simple and efficient cabinet for filing a largenumber of cards, and in such a way thatany card or series of cards maybe easily and quickly brought to an easily accessible position at thefront side wall of the cabinet, where an operator sitting at this frontwall can readily examine any card or removeit if desired, and canperform work in connectionwith it on the supporting shelf 25; that therotatable support for the card trays can be easily operated andcontrolled with no danget of the cards being dropped or spilled from thetrays,

, and any tray brought to an accessible position'in the opening at thefront of the cabinet is automatically held 7 I,

and retained in this position by merely arresting the rotation of thetray support.

' In a common arrangement of a card filing cabinet having pivotallymounted trays for the cards, the cards are arranged transversely of thetrays and'they are accessible through an opening in the top wall of anenclosing housing. With such a construction the trays are limited to arelatively short length so that the trays are capable of carrying only arelatively small number of cards, the cards facing the pivotally mountedend walls of the trays. This" not only limits the number of cards butgreatly reduces their accessibility and' interferes with properexamination of the cards. In the present construction, as the cards arearranged to extend longitudinally of the trays, these trays may bepractically any length desired, thus, greatly increasing the capacity ofthe cabinet and the number of cards that may be mounted therein. Also,as the cards extend longitudinally of the trays, they face a lateralside wall of the tray so that the end Walls with cabinet and'withoutremoving the cards from the trays.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, I

= claim:

pair of upright longitudinally spaced rotary supports in the housingadjacent the end walls, a series of elongated open topped traysextending between and pivotally mounted at their opposite ends in thesupports, said pivotal mounting means for each tray comprising a pivotpin secured to each end of the tray and extending through the adjacentrotary support, a bearing for each pin on the support comprising a crossbar secured to oneside of the support, an elongated bearing for the pinmounted in the bar, a crank arm secured to each pin between the rotarysupport and the adjacent end wall of the housing, a rotatable controlring pivotally connected to each crank arm on the pivot pins in theadjacent support at a distance spacedfrom the axes of these pins, meansmounting each ring to rotate about an axis ofiset laterally from theaxis of rotation of the supports a distance equal to the distance saidpivotal connections to the crank arms are spaced from the axes of thepins, and means whereby the supports and the rings may be rotated tobring any tray into an accessible position immediately to the rear ofthe work supporting shelf.

closure at the upper part of the front wall shiftable to permit accessto the cabinet, a pair of upright longitudinally spaced rotatablesupports in the housing ad jacent the end Walls, a series of elongatedopen topped trays for the cards extending longitudinally between thesupports, means pivotally mounting the ends of the trays in the adjacentsupports each comprising a pivot pin secured to the end of the tray andpassing through the support, a bearing for the pin on the support, acrank arm secured to and extending laterally from each pin, a controlring pivotally connected to each crank arm at a distance from the axisof the pin, supporting rollers for the ring mounted at the inner side ofthe ring to permit rotation of the ring on its inner periphery about anaxis offset a similar distance from the axis of rotation in thesupports, means mounting the rollers comprising elongated supportingbars secured to and mounted on the inner side of the adjacent end wallof the housing to strengthen it, means supporting the upright supportscomprising a longitudinal shaft, means supporting the shaft comprisingelongated bars secured to the inner sides of the end walls and carryingsockets to receive the ends of the shaft, and means whereby the supportsmay be rotated to bring any tray into an accessible position adjacentthe opened closure.

3. A filing cabinet for cards comprising a housing including spacedupright end walls, connecting front and rear side walls between them anda top wall, a retractable closure at the upper part of the front wallshiftable to permit access to the cabinet, a pair of uprightlongitudinally spaced rotatable supports in the housing adjacent the endwalls comprising circular discs, a longitudinal shaft on which the discsare mounted, connecting and strengtheningmeans between the discscomprising a tubular element of considerably larger diameter than theshaft and connected at its ends to the discs spaced from the shaft andbetween the shaft and the peripheries of the discs, said tubular elementcomprising a plurality of tubular sections and means connecting themtogether at their adjacent ends, said connecting means comprising anupright disc mounted on the shaft and means connecting the adjacent endsof the tubular sections to this disc, 21 series of elongated open toppedcard supporting shelves between and pivoted at their opposite ends tothe discs outwardly of the tubular element, and means whereby the discsmay be rotated to bring the respective trays to an accessible positionimmediately behind the closure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS937,366 Friedman Oct. 19, 1909 1,828,208 Taylor Oct. 20, 1931 1,894,166Elliot Ian. 10, 1933 1,918,195 Robertson July ll, 1933 2,530,566 Clarket al. Nov. 21, 1950 2,539,112 Bash Ian. 23, 1951 2,603,547 ZoOk July15, 1952 2,646,891 Morgan .a July 28, 1953 2,662,989 Thatcher Dec. 15,1953

